


Talk to Me

by Plaguedoctorbeaks



Category: Crash Bandicoot (Video Games)
Genre: Autistic Crash Bandicoot, Brief light angst, Coco x Nina in the background if you squint, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Idiots, M/M, Mutual Pining, Sign Language, Sleepy Cuddles, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:55:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23243626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plaguedoctorbeaks/pseuds/Plaguedoctorbeaks
Summary: “Good communication is the key to a good relationship,” they say. But communication can be tricky when one of you is an egotistical, evil hothead who hates talking about their feelings, and the other is their overly positive goofball of an ex-nemesis, especially when one of you is entirely mute.
Relationships: Crash Bandicoot/Neo Cortex
Comments: 16
Kudos: 72





	1. Listen to Me

Trails of footprints broke the pristine white plane of the snow that surrounded Cortex’s Iceberg Lab. They were being left there by none other than Crash Bandicoot, who, shockingly enough, was present on invitation. Crash shivered a little, wrapping his arms around his torso, which was bare as usual aside from the obvious presence of his fur. He hadn’t really thought to bring a coat, or any clothes other than his usual jeans and runners for that matter. His mind had been too preoccupied with his excitement over seeing Neo again, and under friendly pretences at that.

It was only a short walk from the dock he had arrived from to reach the imposing front entrance of the Iceberg Lab. Crash looked up at the giant neon N that adorned the side of the structure, a soft smile curling his lip. Though the lab was worlds apart from his own beach hut of a home, he still found the imposing tower of the lab appealing in an odd way. Seeing it meant that he was going to see Cortex soon.

Cortex. They were supposed to be enemies, he and Crash, as Cortex constantly liked to remind him. Despite that, along with everything Cortex had done, Crash had always felt a strong underlying affection towards the doctor. He didn’t know where it came from, but then again, Crash admittedly never really knew much at all. What he did know was that Cortex meant something to him, and in recent memory they had spent much more time together than Crash could have dreamt.

After their most recent altercation, he and Cortex had been appointed therapy sessions together to “work out their issues”, as Coco had put it. It was she and Nina who had repaired the Psychetron and released Cortex from the inside of Crash’s brain after his little accident. Cortex was understandably furious after emerging from the machinery, and immediately kicked Crash and Coco out of the lab so he could brood and angst in peace for a while. Nina and Coco kept in close contact, having formed a fast bond when working together to save their respective family member, and it was they who had first contacted the therapist for Crash and Cortex.

They had had several sessions since then, and despite their first session going less than swimmingly, Crash had felt himself looking forward to each and every one. Regularly meeting up with Cortex, and in a friendly atmosphere no less? It was perfect. And despite Cortex’s reluctance to admit it, they were slowly working. Cortex had been scowling and rolling his eyes at the therapist’s requests less and less, he hadn’t threatened Crash with his ray gun nearly as often as before, and now Cortex had invited Crash over to his Iceberg Lab of his own volition.

Crash reached up and knocked on the iron blast doors. He instantly regretted this decision, bending over and holding his knuckles in pain, sucking in air through his teeth. His fist colliding with the thick steel hadn’t even made a sound. He shook his hand and looked around, quickly locating a lone pink button off to the right of the door. A grin spread across his face. There was something especially satisfying Crash found about pressing buttons, though both Coco and Cortex understandably almost never let him do so in their respective labs. The bandicoot’s hand shot out and slammed the button with a satisfying click.

A bizarre droning sound echoed up through the lab. That was the doorbell, Crash supposed. That meant Cortex would be at the door in no time. Crash habitually leant left, then right, glancing off either side, pausing to merely flap his hands for a second whenever he thought he heard movement. A faint hum from inside slowly grew louder as the lab’s lift descended to the ground floor. Crash beamed in excitement, eyes trained on the door. The door slid open, and Tiny Tiger emerged.

Crash’s excitement evaporated like dew in the sun. He kept his cheerful expression, but his thoughts were now laced with concern. Tiny looked down and bared his fangs at Crash in an odd, forced-looking approximation of a smile.

“Crash is here to see Doctor Cortex?”

Crash nodded, trying to look polite, though he couldn’t help but be a little intimidated by the muscular thylacine towering over him.

“Doctor Cortex said no hurt Crash. No squashing bandicoots for Tiny today. Crash safe.”

Tiny was seemingly trying to sound reassuring, his clawed right hand curling into a thumbs up. He stepped back a pace or three.

“Crash come in lift! Doctor Cortex waiting.”

Tiny’s offer came across more like an order with his gruff voice, though Crash had no intention of turning away. Crash grinned and nodded again, stepping forward into the lab’s entrance.

Given how small the ground floor of the lab was, there wasn’t much in there besides the lift meant for accessing the lab proper, as well as some dinky looking fire escape style metal stairs for use in emergencies. A small wooden table sat in a corner, topped with a business card holder and a gaudy vase which held a single wilted rose.

There were two short, gruff rumblings, which Crash quickly realised was Tiny clearing his throat. Crash looked up from the table and quickly shuffled over into the lift. Tiny pressed down a button with a claw, the doors slid shut, and the lift set into upward motion.

The lift was pretty wide, being designed to accommodate larger individuals such as Tiny, which made sense given how large some of Cortex’s henchmen were. This prevented the ride up being any more awkward than it had to be, giving Crash room to stand at a semi-comfortable distance from Tiny. The lift was much faster than average (though it wasn’t as if Crash had many other experiences with lifts to compare it to), and within a few seconds they had reached their destination.

The lift doors parted to reveal a level within the lab that Crash hadn’t seen before. It looked leagues homier than the ones that housed the Psychetron or Cortex’s throne, with plush carpet of a deep purple covering the floors, wallpaper spread over the walls, portraits of Nina, several of Cortex’s henchmen, and of Cortex himself scattered around, as well as several regular pieces of furniture. This floor was divided up into rooms to make for a better living space, with a few doors to other rooms around the walls. Cortex was nowhere to be seen.

“Crash wait.”

Tiny pointed a talon at the couch. Crash stiffly obliged, taking a seat on the edge of the couch. Tiny loped over to a nearby door and disappeared through it. Crash was left alone in silence.

Crash sighed and tapped his fingertips on his knees. His eyes travelled around the room, taking in more and more details. A flatscreen TV was mounted to the wall opposite him, a looping video of a fireplace playing on it. A small, neat pile of magazines rested on the coffee table in front of him. Crash began leafing through the pile for want of something to do. _Mad Scientist monthly. Super Villain weekly. Vogue. Evil Genius digest._

Crash dropped the pile back onto the table, not finding anything remotely interesting to him. Finally, the door that Tiny had left through opened, and Cortex emerged.

Cortex was wearing more casual attire than usual; he had forgone his lab coat, gloves and boots, wearing just his blood red turtleneck, white pants, and black socks. Black nail polish adorned his fingernails, as well as his usual black eye make-up. Cortex smiled up at Crash, though it came across predictably forced.

“You’re here.”

Crash nodded, smiling and standing up to properly greet Cortex. Cortex cleared his throat and shook his head, and his usual sense of self-assuredness returned to his voice.

“Welcome to my humble abode, Bandicoot. Bet you never dreamed you’d end up back here, ay?” Cortex leant against the doorframe, hand slowly brushing down it. “I built it myself.” His free hand moved up to his chest as he preened.

Crash nodded and gave a thumbs up. Cortex looked a little annoyed at something, though Crash was familiar enough with that particular expression that he paid it no mind.

“So, you’re probably wondering why I invited you over. For your information, this is entirely professional, and it wasn’t entirely my idea. It was…” There was a noticeable pause in his speech. “…N. Gin’s fault.”

Crash blinked. Why would N. Gin be interested in inviting him over…? Before he could ponder this for long, Cortex had changed the subject.

“Well, take a seat, take a seat. I have some things I’d like to discuss. Just a friendly chat, since we’re supposed to be friends now. We are pals, right?”

Crash nodded and smiled as he returned to the couch, Cortex taking a seat – not _too_ close – next to him.

“So, I want to talk about a new experiment I’ve been working on. Nothing Earth-shattering, just a little something I’ve been tinkering with…”

Crash listened intently as Cortex set off into a lecture about his latest invention, nodding, smiling and giving thumb-ups whenever he deemed necessary. Even as he spoke, Cortex seemed to be getting more and more irritated as time went by.

“Don’t you ever have anything interesting to say?” Cortex snapped suddenly, breaking the flow of his rambling. “Why don’t you ever talk, anyway?”

Crash shuffled uncomfortably, shrugging, unable to respond in any more detail.

“Even in those stupid therapy sessions you seem to love so much, you never say anything! Did your vocal cords get damaged when I mutated you? Do not you know _how_ to speak?”

Crash shook his head and motioned with his hands in the negative. He pointed at his head, making a soft sound in his throat. Cortex shook his head and did his best to calm down a bit.

“I’m not sure I understand. Is it a mental condition?”

Crash nodded in response, motioning with his hands for Cortex to keep going.

“Selective mute?”

Crash shook his head.

“Autism?”

Crash nodded, his smile returning, only tempered with nervousness over Cortex’s possible reaction.

“Ah. I understand. I’ll admit I’m not an expert, but I do know a little on the subject.”

Cortex leant back and absent-mindedly curled the tip of his left hair tuft around a finger.

“I suppose it makes sense, but I never really thought about it before. I suppose I usually had more important things to worry about than your mental state, beyond your intelligence level anyhow.”

He paused to think for a moment.

“Have you ever considered sign language?”

Crash hesitated then shook his head.

“You should. What is it that the therapist keeps telling us? “Communication is key”? I think it would be wise.”

“…I could teach you,” he added as he noticed the uncertainty on Crash’s face. “I’m bound to have a book on it lying around somewhere.”

Crash nodded, a determined smile spreading across his face. Cortex found himself smiling back, but quickly cleared his throat and wiped it off of his face.

“Well. The book will be in my library. I’ll fetch it so we can get started. I don’t why we can’t do it right now.” Cortex stood up and went over to the door, but paused to look back at Crash when he failed to follow.

“Come along!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> autism plays a minor theme in this story. this is because I was recently diagnosed with autism myself, so i’ve started headcanoning Crash as autistic because representation in something I love, babey!  
> the main focus of the story is still crash and cortex’s relationship, but I felt like adding this detail for myself (plus it gives an explanation for why crash is mute~)  
> this isn’t a oneshot like all my other stuff, so there are a few more chapters to come  
> [Also - an important message from your plague doctor - WASH YOUR HANDS.]


	2. Look at Me

Crash looked around at the metal bookshelves that lined the walls of the library, stuffed with books of various thickness and, by the looks of it, language. Cortex purposefully headed to the end of a specific bookshelf, which was stuffed with language courses - Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Latin and many others.

With a triumphant “A-ha!”, Cortex pulled out a bright yellow paperback and dropped it onto a large desk in the centre of the room, pausing to brush various crumbled balls of paper, eraser rubbings and other bits and pieces off of the wooden surface.

 _Sign Language For Dimwits – Auslan – by Dr. N. Unciate_ , the cover read in bold black lettering.

“Penned by an old classmate of mine,” Cortex explained with a dismissive hand-wave upon seeing Crash’s questioning look.

“Incessant, lollygagging jerk. But, this’ll do for now!” Cortex took a seat at the desk and flipped the book open, reading through the introduction faster than Crash could follow.

Before long, they had reached the beginners section of the course. Crash stared at the length of the book, ears drooping in intimidation.

“Of course, with my massive intellect, I’m already fluent, as I am with dozens of other languages, so this’ll be a piece of cake! Uhm… Delicious, wumpa-y cake…!” Cortex attempted to encourage Crash.

Crash blinked.

“…Let’s go.” Cortex slid his fingertip down the page to the first word; a simple "hello".

The word was accompanied with a diagram of a person waving an open hand beside their face.

“Well, this one’s easy. It’s just like waving. Try it.”

Crash did as he was told, but he couldn’t help but feel a little silly.

“Good. Next one… _How are you_?”

Crash copied the diagram; a thumbs up with a questioning look.

“Great. Now… _Good morning_.”

Crash studied the diagram closely then tried to mimic it; an open hand pointing back at himself, fingertips touching the side of his midriff, then his upper chest. He repeated the motion a few times, trying to drill it into his brain.

“See? Even an idiot like you can-” Cortex cut himself off and re-thought his sentence, the therapist’s words echoing in his mind. 

“Uhh… I knew you could do it, Crash,” Cortex muttered awkwardly.

Crash smiled gently. Cortex quickly looked down at the book, suddenly feeling flustered.

“…I think if we keep this up, you should be fluent soon enough. If we meet up, say, twice a week, and you learn a handful of phrases each time, we should be well on our way!”

It wasn’t until the sentence left his mouth and Crash eagerly nodded in agreement that it sunk in what Cortex had just gotten himself into. Inviting Crash into his home just once was bad enough, but seriously suggesting that he regularly come in twice a week? What on Earth was he thinking? If his past self from just a month before was present, Cortex had no doubt that he’d slap him across the face.

But as Crash patiently waited by his side, Cortex faced the truth; he was actually enjoying Crash’s company. The bandicoot was quiet and patient, a quality that was exceedingly rare among Cortex’s henchmen. He wasn’t a genius, but he was kind and considerate without being a complete doormat such as the likes of N. Gin or even N. Brio while he was still on Cortex’s side. Crash was a free spirit, and as annoying as it was that Crash wouldn’t obey him, Cortex still found it… attractive? No. Interesting. Crash was different…

While Cortex was sitting there in his little internal monologue, Crash sat there twiddling his thumbs. This wasn’t the first time it had happened; soliloquies were to be expected from villains after all, especially one as dramatic as Cortex. He had no idea what Cortex was thinking about, but it was probably something important.

Crash looked around as he waited, but his eyes inevitably settled on Cortex’s face. Brows knotted with concentration, accentuating the wrinkles just barely visible. The metallic glimmer of the N plate affixed to his forehead. His mouth; thick, moisturised lower lip framed by his short black beard. Frizzy tufts of jet black hair, a few odd silver hairs visible here and there as they caught the light. Crash leant on the table, leaning his cheek on the palm of his hand, taking in every feature. His dark eyes, staring blankly at the pages before him, accented by dark eyeliner and shadow. Eyes that blinked and stared directly at Crash.

“…What are you looking at? Is there something on my face?”

Crash floundered and shrugged, giving a nervous smile and wave, warmth reaching his cheeks. Cortex paused, then rolled his eyes and closed the book.

“Well, no need to overload you straight away, better ease you in. That’ll do for now. Besides, I’m getting a bit peckish. Dinner?”

Crash nodded in agreement, the awkward tension in the room suddenly becoming unbearable. Anyway, now that Cortex mentioned it, Crash was getting hungry too.

Upon emerging back out to the lounge room, Crash and Cortex discovered Tiny and Dingodile sprawled on the couch, chewing the fat.

“And then I says, _That’s not a pig, that’s me Mum!_ ”

Tiny erupted into raucous laughter, pummelling the cushion beside him with his fists.

“Ahem.”

Both mutants turned to the door upon hearing Cortex’s voice, falling silent.

“G’day, boss-! Huh?! What the hell is that little bugger doing here?!” Dingodile’s expression changed to alarm as he saw Crash standing beside Cortex; he instinctively reached for his flamethrower, only to remember that he was currently unarmed.

“Relax, Dingodile, we’re permanent allies now, remember? Crash here is our… _friend_.” Pronouncing that last word still felt like chewing gravel to Cortex. It was a word usually not in his vocabulary for anyone, let alone his ex-nemesis.

“Look, mate, I still got a score to settle, no matter what your business is. I think I remember promising to make that bloke right there some **toast** , yeah?” Dingodile punctuated his sentence with a violent flick of his tail, glaring right at Crash.

Crash clenched his fists defensively, taking a stance that was ready for action.

“Believe me, I’m well aware you don’t care about my _business_. You made that quite clear in the boiler room.” Cortex kept his neutral tone, but each word he said was laced with venom.

Dingodile shrugged sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck.

“Ay, ‘Dile’s gotta do what a ‘Dile’s gotta do. I just wanted a little extra cash, aight? I thought you said no hard feelings.”

“Of course! Of course!” Cortex had a wide smile on his face, though he seemed anything but happy, cold anger slipping through his teeth. He took a deep breath and relaxed some tension in his shoulders. “…Anyway. I was planning on getting some dinner. The thing is, I’m just _too exhausted_ to ask N. Gin to cook,” he did an exaggerated fake stretch and yawn, “so… I was thinking pizza?”

“YES! Tiny wants this!” the thylacine piped up immediately, tail beginning to wag. It wasn’t often they got takeout considering how inconvenient it was to get delivery on an iceberg in the middle of nowhere.

“…Fine. I could go for some grub,” Dingodile sighed, letting go of his aggression for the time being.

Crash relaxed as well, nodding in agreement as his smile returned.

“Then it’s settled,” Cortex confirmed. “I’ll having my usual, what do you all want?”

The three mutants relayed their orders to Cortex – Barbeque chicken with hot wings for Dingodile, large meatlovers with ribs for Tiny and a vegetarian for Crash.

Cortex left down a hallway to collect orders from N. Gin and N. Tropy, quietly whinging to himself about having to “do all the hard work” as he went, leaving Crash alone in the room with Tiny and Dingodile.

Crash waved nervously at the two larger mutants, trying to keep the peace. Dingodile blinked slowly and turned back to Tiny.

“…Yeah. Anyways, as I was saying…”

Crash quietly sighed in relief, taking a seat on a nearby ottoman. They weren’t trying to kill him, which was a plus. Given that he was going to be visiting the lab regularly, Crash decided that it would be better to not push his luck and let them get comfortable with him at their own pace.

Some time later, Cortex had left the lab in his airship and returned with the pizzas in his arms, still warm. He set them on the table irritably.

“DINNER,” he called. Crash, Dingodile and Tiny crossed the room to the dining area, taking seats and gratefully digging in without any further hesitation. N. Gin emerged from his lab and joined the group, while N. Tropy took his pizza back to his room without a word.

“Pathetic moron behind the counter made fun of my N plate again,” Cortex complained as he poured himself a glass of red wine. “We’ll see who’s laughing once I claim my place as emperor of Earth…!”

“Yes! They are a seely fool! They do not see your great greatness, Master!” N. Gin chimed in, unintentionally distracting Cortex from the concerned look on Crash’s face.

“But of course. If they truly knew what Neo Cortex was capable of, they’d be snivelling at my feet!” Cortex laughed, taking a sip of his wine.

“Oh, how I love to sneevel! Hehehe!” N. Gin happily munched on a slice of pizza.

Dingodile reached for the remote and turned the TV on to the sports channel. Tiny watched intently, stuffing entire slices of his pizza into his gaping maw at once.

“Who do ya reckons gonna win tonight, Tine-o?”

“Tiny thinks… red ones win!” Tiny growled through a mouthful of rib meat.

“Neither of the teams out there are wearing red, mate.”

“Duh… green ones!”

“Good choice,” Dingodile chuckled, tucking in to his wings.

Crash couldn’t help but smile softly at the friendly atmosphere in the room. He’d never pictured the group of people who tried to kill him so many times acting like a family, but he supposed it made sense; they’d be miserable if they were at each other’s throats all day. He was just glad to be some small part of it now.

Crash listened contently as Cortex set off into a tirade about the advantages his element Cortexrulestheworldium held over Plutonium, happily nibbling away at his pizza and sipping a tall glass of wumpa juice that Cortex had poured for him. 

Everything felt right.

A good few hours and glasses of wine later, Cortex found himself still sat at the table, deep in conversation with Crash and N. Gin. Tiny and Dingodile had migrated to the couch to better watch the game after dinner, and Cortex had quickly forgotten that they were in the room at all, engrossed in his own ranting. Tiny had gone to bed at 9:00 PM sharp, as always, and Dingodile had followed suit. Cortex slowly looked over at the grandfather clock beside the table. 1:30 AM.

“Oh, my. Where does the time go? I’m missing my beauty sleep!”

“What? Eet can’t be that late, I’m only just getting start-” N. Gin was cut off by a comically large yawn that got his false eye stuck facing upwards. He lightly smacked the side of his head to dislodge it with a sigh.

“… Sleepee. I theenk I weel retire for the night, Master.”

“Go on, then,” Cortex replied with a lazy hand wave. N. Gin immediately got up and tottered out of the room back to his quarters. Crash and Cortex were left alone in the lounge.

“Well, it’s been a pleasure having you, Crash, but I think it’s time…” Cortex trailed off as he saw just how tired Crash looked, slumped against the back of his chair, eyes only half open.

Crash stumbled to his feet anyway, waving goodbye and stumbling across the room. Cortex considered letting him leave and being done with this whole ordeal, but he knew Crash wouldn’t be able to make the journey home in that state.

“…Crash, wait. You can stay here tonight, if you want.”

Crash froze and turned around, tilting his head in surprise.

“Yes. The couch will-” Cortex turned to motion towards the couch, only to freeze in horror as he saw a large pile of stuffing and splinters where it once sat.

Cortex groaned loudly, closing his eyes and massaging the bridge of his nose. If it weren’t for his current fatigue, he would have instantly marched to Tiny’s room and yelled his lungs out. Luckily for Tiny, it didn’t seem worth the effort in that moment.

“That’s the fourth time this month…” Cortex whined bitterly. 

“Whatever. You can sleep…” Cortex racked his brains. There must be a suitable, vacant sleeping place somewhere in the lab. 

Nina’s room? No, that felt creepy. The Evolvo-Ray’s operation table? Somehow, that didn’t seem appropriate. The bathtub? Don’t be stupid.

There was only one place left Cortex could think of. With a sigh of resignation, Cortex stood up and beckoned Crash to follow him.

“Come on then, you can sleep in my bed,” he grumbled.

Crash’s ears pricked up in surprise before he followed Cortex down the hallway. The bandicoot couldn’t help a small smile creeping up his cheek.

Crash followed Cortex into his room, only for the scientist to turn and shoo him out.

“Wait outside for a moment, will you? I need to get changed.”

Crash did as he was told, sleepily swaying outside of the closed door, half considering laying down and going to sleep on the carpet right then and there.

A short while later, Cortex opened the door to let Crash back in, now dressed in a dull red dressing gown with matching slippers, his make-up removed, revealing the red bags beneath his eyes. Cortex yawned loudly, stretching as they approached the large double canopy bed against the opposite wall.

Cortex hastily snatched a large pink teddy bear off of his pillow and shoved it under the bed with an awkward cough. He slid off his slippers and took off his dressing gown, climbing into bed in his pyjamas.

Crash kicked off his shoes and socks, took off his jeans and slid under the covers next to Cortex in just his boxers, nuzzling against the pillow with a satisfied smile.

“Don’t make yourself _too_ comfortable,” Cortex sighed with a roll of the eyes, turning around to face away from Crash.

It wasn’t long before Crash began to slowly edge nearer to Cortex; he didn’t want to feel invasive, but he had an undeniable urge to get closer to him. Signing to ask Cortex to cuddle him obviously wasn’t going to work while the scientist was facing the other way with his eyes closed, and Crash hadn’t learnt that much yet anyway. 

Tentatively, he gently placed a hand on Cortex’s waist. Cortex didn’t object – in fact he began to silently move backwards until his back made contact with Crash’s chest. Crash smiled tenderly and wrapped his arms around Cortex. Cortex turned and wrapped his arms around Crash’s waist, his face ending up pressing against Crash’s chest. Crash gently rested his head on the flat top of Cortex’s crown, holding the scientist in his arms. 

Cortex hummed softly, his arms firmly holding Crash close. Crash’s eyes drifted closed, breathing in Cortex’s scent, a content smile still quirking his lip. Cortex sighed. Part of him wanted to continue the usual act of pushing Crash away and pretending that hatred was the sole feeling he had for the bandicoot, but the rest of him was tired of the charade. 

They lay there, legs tangled, arms firmly wrapped around each other, blissfully relaxed. Cortex slowly rubbed a cheek against Crash’s chest fur, sleepily admiring how soft it was. Crash began to gently stroke Cortex’s back, slowly caressing his skin through the cloth, humming soothingly. Cortex’s face softened, his hold on Crash relaxing. His consciousness gradually faded as he slowly drifted off, Crash’s voice and touch tenderly lulling him to rest. Soon enough, Cortex was deep in the most peaceful sleep he’d had in years. It didn’t take long for Crash to follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter alone is my longest piece of writing on here so far, which is kinda neat~  
> I don't really have anything else to say other than that I hope you enjoyed.  
> its 4 am aaaaaah (dats me yelling)


	3. Talk to Me

There were no windows in the lab, meaning no sunlight shone on Crash’s face to wake him like back home, yet like clockwork, he was slowly pulled back to consciousness around the same time he always awoke each morning. Crash’s eyes slowly opened, and he briefly groggily wondered where he was before the memories of the day before returned to his mind, and as he noticed a certain someone still clinging to him under the covers. 

Crash chuckled quietly and gently nuzzled the top of the still-asleep Cortex’s head. Cortex didn’t stir, still completely unconscious. Crash couldn’t bring himself to move in case he woke Cortex up; he looked so peaceful, a great juxtaposition to his usual demeanour. Crash was fully awake, but he closed his eyes and let his body relax again, just enjoying the moment.

Half an hour passed. Then an hour. Cortex was still well and truly asleep. Crash needed to pee. He gingerly tried to pull away, inching away from Cortex. Cortex mumbled something unintelligible in his sleep and pulled Crash back, tightening his grip around Crash’s waist, delivering a sharp squeeze to his bladder in the process. Crash winced and reached behind his back, carefully peeling Cortex’s arms off of him. Sliding out from under the covers, Crash managed to get up without disturbing Cortex. Crash paused to carefully tuck the covers back over Cortex’s shoulder, then tip-toed out of the room, beginning his quest to find where exactly the loo was in this place.

Not long after, Cortex awoke in his bed, alone as he always did. He rolled over onto his back and grumbled under his breath, rubbing his fists into his eyes. He choked- there was something in his mouth. He sat up and picked it off his tongue, discovering that it was a small orange hair. He stared at it for a moment, bewildered, before his memories of the day before came back to him. He groaned and fell back onto his back, covering his face with his hands. So much for “purely professional”. 

… where was Crash? Cortex blearily looked around the room, but other than a few more loose strands of orange fur scattered over the other side of the bed, there was no sign of the bandicoot anywhere. 

Had Crash had second thoughts? Cortex sighed and rolled back onto his side, closing his eyes again. It made sense. What reason would Crash have for… _being with_ him? Cortex had only ever treated Crash with cruelty, and Crash may not be book-smart, but he wasn’t completely brain dead, especially in the emotional department. Crash hated him. Last night was just a ruse, or done out of pity. He didn’t care about Cortex, let alone love him, of course he didn’t, and Cortex was an idiot for believing he ever would. He’d probably gone back home to N. Sanity island, to Coco, to Aku Aku, to Crunch, to people who really mattered to him.

“You don’t need him,” Cortex murmured to himself, though that did little to stop the hollow pit forming in his stomach.

He lay there for a time in self-pity, for how long he didn’t know or care. He could faintly hear movement elsewhere in the lab, though he couldn’t tell where it was coming from. N. Gin making breakfast, probably. Or Tiny doing his morning push-ups. Dingodile wouldn’t wake until much later. N. Tropy didn’t seem to sleep much and was always off doing his own thing. Uka Uka had no need for sleep, but he didn’t make much noise when he wasn’t yelling at someone, and he’d shut himself up in his chamber scheming for nearly a week straight now. Nina was back at the academy. Cortex’s other henchmen had their own homes or were simply stationed elsewhere. Crash…

Cortex flipped onto his face and buried it in his pillow. He could still smell Crash’s scent – warm, salty, slightly fruity. He turned back around with a groan, resolving to breathe through his mouth. 

“…What am I _thinking_?!” 

Was he _seriously_ letting himself get this torn up over whether his archenemy liked him or not? Cortex pulled himself out of bed, grunting in frustration as he slid his slippers back onto his feet and donned his robe. No. None of that. Crash hated his guts? Well, good. The feeling was mutual. Hatred was the only feeling Cortex had directed at Crash, that’s it, nothing else. Cortex’s brain was already going at a thousand miles a second, trying to concoct another brand-new evil plan to finally get rid of the meddlesome bandicoot once and for all, and this time, this time, he would be triumphant!

…Of course, he couldn’t commit grand acts of evil on an empty stomach. He purposely made his way out of his bedroom door, heading to the kitchen, hoping that the sounds he had heard were N. Gin with the breakfast after all.

Cortex’s train of thought screeched to a halt in the kitchen’s doorway as he was met with the sight of Crash rummaging through the kitchen cupboards, still in his boxers, a mess that he had left being evidence of his search through the rest of the kitchen.

“You… You’re still here?!”

Crash flinched at the sudden exclamation then turned, noticing Cortex’s presence. He nodded in response, a confused smile on his face at Cortex’s shock. 

(Good morning,) he signed, moving his fingertips from the side of his midriff to his chest, just as he had learnt. 

He looked around at the mess he had made, grinning sheepishly. He started shoving pots and pans back into the cabinets at random in an attempt to tidy up.

“I… Let me help you with that.” 

Frazzled, Cortex knelt and picked up a pot, only to realise he had no idea where it was meant to go. He never cooked – that was N. Gin’s job, unless Dingodile planned a barbeque. He set it down on the bench.

“Forget it. N. Gin can tidy it up later. Uhm… Here, if you’re looking for something to eat, I have something you’ll like.”

Cortex took this opportunity to do a good deed for once in an attempt to counteract his brief internal overreaction, walked over to the fridge and opened the door. He reached inside and pulled out a punnet of fresh wumpa fruit. A grin spread across Crash’s face as he took the fruits and tucked in immediately, purple juice splattering the kitchen floor in his gusto.

“Careful, there,” Cortex warned half-heartedly as he watched Crash tear through the fruit as if he hadn’t eaten in days. It wasn’t as if he’d have to clean it up. N. Gin would take care of that.

Speak of the devil; N. Gin emerged from his room, already dressed for the day. His false eye was out however, leaving a hollow black socket with a red light resembling a pupil visible at the back.

“Oh-! Master! You have awakened!” N. Gin exclaimed. His eye left Cortex as he noticed Crash, who nervously waved a greeting.

“And… the horrible bandicoot ees still here. He deed not cause you any problems, no?”

Cortex avoided eye contact as he gave a non-committal nod, pink gracing his cheeks as memories of the night before overtook his fading anger and entered the forefront of his mind once more.

“That ees good! Heehee… Eggs and bacon for the morneeng meal, yes? For the bandicoot too?”

“That will do, N. Gin. And Crash already ate, as you can see,” Cortex affirmed, motioning to the punnet of wumpa stones and splattered juice in Crash’s hands.

“Yes, yes! Let _me_ take that.” There was a hint of aggression in N. Gin’s tone as he snatched the punnet from Crash’s hands, holding eye contact for uncomfortably long as he thrust the punnet into the bin.

Crash looked over at Cortex, unsure. Cortex just gave a half-hearted shrug and left for the lounge.

“Coffee too, N. Gin,” he called over his shoulder. Crash followed Cortex, having nothing better to do.

Cortex sat on his armchair, the mangled wreck of the couch’s remains still in a heap in the middle of the room. Crash pushed the ottoman over and threw himself onto it as Cortex switched on the TV to its fireplace setting.

They sat there in silence for a while. Cortex glanced at Crash several times, trying to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. The bandicoot shivered – it had only just occurred to him how cold it was, especially considering he was still in his underwear. He shakily got up, making his way back to Cortex’s room to retrieve his clothes. By the time he returned, his nose was greeted with the smell of freshly brewed coffee. Cortex had propped his feet up on the ottoman and was sipping away at his coffee.

“There you are. Well, you were supposed to have left yesterday of course, but since you’re still here we may as well get another lesson out of the way~!” His tone was strange and lilted, and he seemed far too preoccupied with staring into his coffee, avoiding looking up at Crash. 

After breakfast, the two of them met up once again in the library, the atmosphere no more comfortable than it had been the day before. Cortex flipped open the book to the correct page with haste, not saying a word. 

The images and words on the page were impossible for Cortex to focus on, he found. His eyes scanned a single word again and again, yet it still found no meaning. All his brain found purchase on was Crash’s gentle breathing beside him, his shoulder millimetres from the scientist’s own as he leant over to peer at the diagrams.

“Um. Give me some space to breathe,” Cortex uttered absent-mindedly, waving Crash away without looking up. 

Crash obliged, shuffling back in his chair, but fixed Cortex with a concerned look all the same. The silence continued without any sign of change, Cortex still staring blankly down at the page before him. Crash looked up at the desk, noticing a notepad (with a custom N insignia printed in the corner) and a pen resting towards the back of the desk.

Movement in Cortex’s peripheral vision snapped him out of his stupor as Crash pulled the notepad to himself and began to write. His handwriting was a bit messy, and he capitalised the first letter in every word, but it was perfectly legible.

**Whats Wrong? Are You Okay?** he wrote.

Cortex only stared at the note for a few seconds before relaxing his shoulders and releasing a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding. He finally looked up at Crash.

“Crash, surely even you understand how… weird this is. Considering we’ve been fighting for so long, being all buddy-buddy, as _lovely_ is it is, just feels. Odd, you know?”

Crash slowly nodded, tapping the end of the pen against the desk before writing a new message.

**Its Been Fun Though. I Like Hanging Out With You :)**

Cortex groaned and pulled at his hair, feeling heat rising to his face.

“Why do you have to be so damn _nice_ all the time?! Seeing everything we’ve been through - Everything I’ve done - it would be fair for you to despise me, yet you’re just so…”

**I Dont Hate You Though. I Like You Alot,** Crash wrote simply.

“And I don’t… I don’t hate you.” Cortex said without thinking. “Not entirely, anyway,” he added quickly, clearing his throat.

Crash’s ears pulled back as he smiled – a different smile than his usual vacant grin. It was one more gentle, one with more complex emotions behind it. He went to write something else, only to drop the pen, turn in his seat to face Cortex and spread his arms for a hug instead. 

Cortex hesitated for just a moment more before discarding his reservations and moving forward into Crash’s arms. Crash squeezed Cortex tightly around the shoulders, gently nuzzling the top of his head. Cortex pulled back a little to look Crash in the eyes. Without any further hesitation, Cortex leant in, closing his eyes and tilting his head to the side, pressing his lips to Crash’s. Crash relaxed into the kiss, holding Cortex around the waist as the doctor cupped Crash’s face in his hands.

It felt like a long while before they parted. Crash quickly erupted into a fit of giggles, leaning his forehead to Cortex’s. Cortex joined in despite himself, closing his eyes again as a string of low chuckles escaped him, hands finding a place on Crash’s back. 

“Crash, I’m… I’m sorry. I know saying that isn’t anywhere near a full apology for… everything… but I suppose it’s a start.”

Crash planted another quick peck to Cortex’s nose before finally pulling away, quickly brushing the back of his hand over his eye as a few final snickers left him. He turned back to the desk and picked up the pen once again.

**I Think That We Can Get Along Very Well If We Try Neo :)**

Cortex took in the words for a short while before leaning in to Crash. 

“Yes, but… honestly, where would we even start?”

Crash paused to think, his bandicoot brain running at full capacity for a moment before writing;

**Just Talk To Me.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah,, I’m not entirely satisfied with how this ended, but considering I’ve been sitting on this ending for. nearly four bloody months now. I think it’s just for the best I finally finish this up in this semi-decent way, otherwise it’ll never get done.
> 
> seeing some people genuinely excited and invested and waiting for the next chapter though-! thanks so much all of you that commented, I’m so flattered!! I didn’t really think it was that good :’) I hope you were okay with this ending anyway. 
> 
> anyway, I can move on to new, hopefully much better thought out stories now. and hopefully it won’t take me months to post again this time ^v^;;


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